Lessons in Thrift

Thrift doesn't come easily. It's a work in progress. The urge to splurge is always lurking and I avoid shopping as much as possible. My car is on autopilot from home to work, home again and to school. Tom has been gracious enough to shop for groceries and take ove the day to day finances. This cuts down on the anxiety.In the spirit of thrift, I have been using yarn that has not seen the light of day for months, sometimes years. Finding patterns for these hidden gems has been much easier since Ravelry.

Here are two examples. Both are knit with Noro Silk Garden Light and Alpaca With A Twist Baby. Both are found on brooklyntweeds blog. The scarf is the Noro Striped Scarf, a simple K1, P1 and change yarns every other row. The fabric is plumb and soft and the result looks as though far more thought has gone into knitting it. I still had leftover material and so I Turned a Square and made a matching hat. Now this doesn't seem a practical choice here in Florida and so I may have to stash it away for wear at a later date or maybe send it across the ocean to a chilly friend or relative.Susan was a kind and patient model as we pranced around the yard in search of decent light. Susan is doing well after her last round of chemo and radiation. Her hair is growing back quickly and I think that it suits her. She looks wonderful. I was able to wear the scarf on our annual family outing to Cracker Christmas at Fort Christmas.With Christmas is just around the corner and I have just received my first present. A new Reisenthel Carrybag mini. Only a fellow knitter would know what a great project bag this is. I have two larger baskets and had no idea that this mini existed, and with closure up top and my name in pink! The bag the basket is came in is perfect for light laptop protection on the go. I love my new basket and will be retiring the old Boardwalk basket for a while.

While on the subject of yarn totes, I was playing around with "yarn" and "knitting" on craigslist and up popped this little jewel. A vintage knitting basket/table. I took a 35 minute trip north and picked it up for a few dollars. It is solid cherry and in great shape. The fabric is pretty tacky and has to go. I will do some further stash diving into the fabric bins to see what I can come up with to replace the bag. I'll share when the liner is replaced.

Although these items are not in the spirit of thrift, it's a subscription purchase that I made in better times. The second round of Sundara yarn has arrived. This time I received Fingering Silky Merino. Three 500 yards skeins of gorgeous colorful yarn. On a tip from a knitterly friend, I immediately put the two pink skeins, Sugar Plum and Flaming Flamingo up for trade on Ravelry in favor of two more skeins of The Aquatic Life. At least I will have more options as to what to knit with 1500 yards. Now I am crossing my fingers that they will all match!

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Lessons in Thrift

Thrift doesn't come easily. It's a work in progress. The urge to splurge is always lurking and I avoid shopping as much as possible. My car is on autopilot from home to work, home again and to school. Tom has been gracious enough to shop for groceries and take ove the day to day finances. This cuts down on the anxiety.In the spirit of thrift, I have been using yarn that has not seen the light of day for months, sometimes years. Finding patterns for these hidden gems has been much easier since Ravelry.

Here are two examples. Both are knit with Noro Silk Garden Light and Alpaca With A Twist Baby. Both are found on brooklyntweeds blog. The scarf is the Noro Striped Scarf, a simple K1, P1 and change yarns every other row. The fabric is plumb and soft and the result looks as though far more thought has gone into knitting it. I still had leftover material and so I Turned a Square and made a matching hat. Now this doesn't seem a practical choice here in Florida and so I may have to stash it away for wear at a later date or maybe send it across the ocean to a chilly friend or relative.Susan was a kind and patient model as we pranced around the yard in search of decent light. Susan is doing well after her last round of chemo and radiation. Her hair is growing back quickly and I think that it suits her. She looks wonderful. I was able to wear the scarf on our annual family outing to Cracker Christmas at Fort Christmas.With Christmas is just around the corner and I have just received my first present. A new Reisenthel Carrybag mini. Only a fellow knitter would know what a great project bag this is. I have two larger baskets and had no idea that this mini existed, and with closure up top and my name in pink! The bag the basket is came in is perfect for light laptop protection on the go. I love my new basket and will be retiring the old Boardwalk basket for a while.

While on the subject of yarn totes, I was playing around with "yarn" and "knitting" on craigslist and up popped this little jewel. A vintage knitting basket/table. I took a 35 minute trip north and picked it up for a few dollars. It is solid cherry and in great shape. The fabric is pretty tacky and has to go. I will do some further stash diving into the fabric bins to see what I can come up with to replace the bag. I'll share when the liner is replaced.

Although these items are not in the spirit of thrift, it's a subscription purchase that I made in better times. The second round of Sundara yarn has arrived. This time I received Fingering Silky Merino. Three 500 yards skeins of gorgeous colorful yarn. On a tip from a knitterly friend, I immediately put the two pink skeins, Sugar Plum and Flaming Flamingo up for trade on Ravelry in favor of two more skeins of The Aquatic Life. At least I will have more options as to what to knit with 1500 yards. Now I am crossing my fingers that they will all match!